The Bar Towel

OK, I can't wait to post this question anymore. At the end of the month I'm finally going to Portland & Seattle for a long-awaited beer adventure (culminating in a week of skiing in Whistler).

Does anyone have any personal recommendations for beer locations (pubs or breweries) or other interesting sights in Portland and Seattle? Obviously I'll print the city guides from BA and RB and that kind of thing. I have never been to either city before.

Thanks.
Cass

Hey Cass,

I really like the Elysian Fields and the Pike Place Pub, but there are some other suggestions:

http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3721

I'm jealous (even though I'll be in BC around that time).

I've never been to Portland, but I sent my inlaws to Pelican on the coast. It's consistently rated as one of Oregon's best brew pubs. The inlaws loved it & grabbed me some bottles.

There's way to much to see & do in Seattle (even just beer-wise). I liked Pike street as well, and you'll probably want to check out the market anyway. Collin's is a decent little place to sample & the food is a step up from typical pub grub. You obviously have to go to Bottleworks. I've never made it to their cafe though.

If you're driving up north, there's a couple of great stops. Diamond Knot in Mukilteo makes some solid brews. Boundary Bay in Bellingham is pretty good (too bad the bottleshoppe closed). There's a few other places I've never been... LaConner for one.

Though if you're considering Victoria at all, rather than driving inland, you could take a few ferries and check out Water Street Brewing in port townsend & a couple other stops along the way to Victoria. Some nice country & some nice brews along the way. I love Victoria (and the island in general), but after Portland & Seattle, it might be a bit of a let down.

I've never made it to this place along the Mt. Baker Highway, but it looks interesting (brewery, pizzeria, wedding chapel & beer shrine!):
http://www.northforkbrewery.com/

Actually, Mt. Baker is a great place to ski/snowboard as well. It's not as touristy as Whistler & they get a lot of snow fall. I haven't been there in almost a decade, but they were still using diesel lifts without safety bars. It was wicked (they'd close some down if it got too windy).

Hmmm, I was sure that I posted this info last night, but it's not here, so let's try again...

When I was in Seattle for a short visit a while back, I ended up with a nasty stomach bug that had me stuck in my hotel room for a good chunk of my stay, but I did manage to check out a few places. Here's my report:

http://beerbeatsbites.wordpress.com/200 ... n-seattle/
http://beerbeatsbites.wordpress.com/200 ... continues/

If you are passing through Vancouver, other than the haunts that have been talked about here, I can recomend a new stop I just found.

There is an excellent beer and wine shop downtown on Seymour at Smithe called Viti. Brilliant selection and at least one fantastic staff member who really knew her stuff.

Back in February, a friend introduced my roommate and I to a fairly established Indian restaurant a little North of downtown (Seattle) called "Cedars" -- Best butter chicken I've ever tasted, and they have a surprisingly large bottled beer selection. As I recall there were at least three big fridges, full of brews from England and the West Coast. It can get pretty busy, it's a popular place. I've got their pamphlet around here somewhere, I was considering adding it to the Place Ratings in RB...

One of the great things about both Portland and Seattle is that, apart from the outstanding beer bars, just about any place you go into has good beer. Even the ballpark had a couple of very good IPAs. But there are also great beer bars. One Portland must-see is the Horse Brass, the ur-beer-pub of the area. It's been promoting craft beer for decades. I walked in one afternoon and sat at the bar, where I was soon surrounded by locals and made very welcome. Outstanding beer choices, with many taps and usually about five casks, including the house beer -- Younger's Special Bitter, made by Rogue -- which is a kind of west coast English-style bitter. I accidentally (if you believe that...) came away with a copy of the beer menu, which I use to cry myself to sleep at night. It was quite smoky when I was there, but the regulars were complaining that Portland was soon going non-smoking -- don't know when.
Rogue, Bridegport, Full Sail, and Laurelwood all have brewpubs. I liked the Laurelwood pub on NW Kearney St., less corporate than most brewery pubs and very relaxed. There's a chain of pubs called McMenamins found all over the Portland area, usually in very interesting buildings. We stayed in their Kennedy Schoolhouse out of the centre of town, formerly a handsome elementary school and now a hotel and brewpub. Their places are worth seeking out.
There are a number of bars on or near NW 23rd Avenue. We liked the New Old Lompoc. Hell, we liked it all.
You might want to see if you can find a copy of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide West Coast USA, which I found very useful.
Nick

And then there's Seattle. As others have noted, the Elysian Fields Brewpub is on the way to the two stadia and worth visiting. I walked there (do it by day) and found myself in first the Central Saloon, Seattle's oldest, and found some adequate ales on tap. Just about opposite the Elysian Fields is a great old place called the Triangle, a sort of miniature Flatiron Building, now kind of stranded among freeway entrances and the like. It's apparently 500 square feet, but looks a lot smaller, and it has 15 taps. From there you can go to the Pyramid Brewpub, which is opposite the football stadium.
Also downtown are the Collins Pub, which is a more than decent place, and the Taphouse Grill, notable for 160 (yes, 160) taps. One day I walked from downtown to Brouwer's, an excellent bar in Fremont, a vaguely bohemian area. The walk, which passes the World's Fair site and a Frank Gehry-designed museum of music, is not brutally far but there is something of a mountain on the way. Stick as close to 4th Avenue as you can, and it'll take you across the bridge into Fremont. You'll be good and thirsty, and Brouwer's will be able to help.
From there I walked to the University district and a wonderful old bar called the Blue Moon, where Kurt Vonnegut and others apparently drank.
Seattle is also a major cocktail city, and our friend Christine Sismondo recommended some good places. Sun Liquor is a good bar near the Stumbling Monk. Right down near the market downtown are some very good places, including of course the Pike Brewing Company, noted by others. There are also a couple of great cocktail places, perhaps principally the Zig Zag, down the stairs beind the Market. If you're lucky you'll meet Murray Stenson, the local cocktail legend, twice mentioned recently by the New York Times. Hope the attention hasn't gone to his head.
There's a fair bit of cask ale available in both Portland and Seattle these days. Both cities have good public transit and are fairly easy to get around. Have fun, as if that's a challenge.
Nick

Thanks for the tips guys.

Nick - I'm also staying at the Kennedy School in Portland, but staying at a downtown hotel for new year's.

Only 10 days 'til departure - let's hope the arctic temps clear out of the west coast before then!

The snow out here sucks! (though it's not as bad as Onterrible).

At least the hills should be good for ya... and the lifts will probably be safer than ever!

Okay, this is ridiculous. Three years ago we had 16 deg Celsius weather on Christmas eve in Surrey. Today we must have got 16 cm of snow!

Did anyone realize that the new mayor-elect of Portland is actually named Sam Adams?

http://samforpdx.com/

I can't think of a more fitting name for a mayor of a beer town. For some reason I find this hilarious (and cool).

Derek wrote:Okay, this is ridiculous. Three years ago we had 16 deg Celsius weather on Christmas eve in Surrey. Today we must have got 16 cm of snow!

They actually got 3' of snow before New Years.

Hey everyone! I'm back from the adventure that was the west coast. It was quite a trip! I kept track of all the pubs we hit in Portland and Seattle, as I knew I'd forget if I tried to assemble later.

I'll try to put some notes down, but here's the list of beer places in both cities:

Portland

Kennedy School
Concordia Ale House
Lucky Lab
Green Dragon
Belmont Station
Clyde Common @ Ace Hotel
Tug Boat
Deschutes
East Burn
Doug Fir

Seattle

Taphouse Grill
Cyclops @ Ace Hotel
Elysian Fields
Pike Place Brewery
Jolly Roger
Hale's Ales
Brouwers

Suffice it to say, there's lots of beer to try out there

Got to say, I'm suprised you didn't do Pyramid in Seattle or Rogue in Portland.